Wheelworks.co.nz, Handbuilt wheels by Tristan Thomas

I like SantaCruz.  They’ve somehow managed to grow to the size where they can afford serious R&D without being a faceless, soulless company like some many of the brands are these days.  Plus they recently hired Mike Ferrentino.

As a 13 year old mountain bike grom I looked forward to each issue of BIKE magazine to arrive at the bookshop so I could read Mike’s articles.  BIKE was a glossy mag with amazing photos and great stories about cycling and was a real depart from Mountain Bike Action and their Woman’s Weekly drivel of 10-tips-to-make-you-climb-faster which were industry norm at the time.  Their yearly Photo Issue would quickly be cut-up and blue-tacked to my bedroom walls and provided infinite motivation for the mountain biking I did in my teens. Wade Simmons, Ritchey Schley, and Brett Tippie’s careers and the riding style we now call ‘freeriding’ were kickstarted by a BIKE article focusing on these three Kamloops residents riding their bikes down very steep hills while wearing hockey padding.  Schley used one SPD pedal and one flat so he could controllably dab.  I am really lucky to have grown up in West coast Canada while North Shore freeriding forever changed the way mountain bikes are ridden and designed. Mike Ferrentino’s articles were fantastic and I think he went on to become editor before BIKE was sold to their corporate overlords who changed the magazines tone at which point I stopped spending my lawn-mowing money on them.  Current magazines like Spoke, Rouleur and Privateer owe a lot to BIKE’s trailblazing and it’s great to see Ferrentino finding his feet at SantaCruz.

The Tallboy was released when 29ers were still freak bikes for circus runaways.  Now 29er wheels contribute over 80% of the mountain bike wheels I build, so to say SantaCruz read the trend would be stating the obvious. It was also one of the first non-XC bikes to be made from carbon fibre and it has helped to usher in a new era of framebuilding material to mountain biking by proving that fancy plastic cloth and resin can be used to build durable mountain bikes.  And somehow a Specialized Epic chews through it’s 12 suspension bearings once a year but SantaCruz can offer a lifetime bearing warranty on their bikes.

I built this front wheel for James last year but after a whoopsy-daisy it needed some work.

Depending on how bad the damage is you can often re-use the spokes. In this case the rim was badly damaged and many spokes were completely slack – not ideal for a rebuild. I used all new DT Swiss Competition spokes and brass nipples. Of course the rim was also replaced.

This Record hub is still in great shape and has many kms left in it. Good quality hubs are worth every penny.

Try and look after this one, James :-)

Stewart wanted a 7 speed rear wheel to fit his 135mm-spaced mountain bike for touring use. I used a Mavic XM823 rim and laced it to a Shimano 775 XT rear hub. The rear hub is 135mm spaced and will fit a modern 8/9/10sp cassette and I’ll supply Stewart with a spacer to use his 7 speed cassette. The 775 also uses a subtle Center Lock rotor which means this wheel is future-proofed if Stewart decides to get a newer frame.

36 Silver DT Swiss Competition spokes and brass nipples tie everything together.

Ideally Stewart would have preferred a silver rim and hub but modern silver parts are getting hard to find!  There was the option to use a silver 756 hub but the newer freehub body of the 775 will be easier to get parts for, and has quicker engagement.

As I wrote earlier in the week, the Enve 45mm clinchers are the best carbon clincher rim on the market.

This pair uses a custom white Alchemy ELF front and DT Swiss 240s rear hub, and two white spokes at each valve. These are going to be on Geoff’s red and white Colnago and will look shithot.

Rim decals are white to match the hubs and Enve logos, and the hub bands are matt black to match the carbon rim surface.

This is the second set of wheels I’ve built for Daniel in Auckland – the first pair was for his stunning Look. Originally these were going to be clinchers but after riding the other tubular pair Daniel wanted another set of tubs.

Ambrosio Nemesis rims are quiet possibly the worlds rarest rim and are very hard to get. Their Italian made, and the brass counterweight at the valve adds some serious style. These rims were made famous by the one-day Paris > Roubaix race where, even in modern outings, old-school rims are preferred by many riders.

This pair is destined for a custom Hampsten MAX similar to the one I drooled over last Friday.

Gary is a Canterbury farmer who wanted a new pair of wheels to drop some weight and increase performance. I suggested the 23mm wide rims to increase grip, traction, and ride comfort.

Laced to a pair of DT Swiss 240s hubs with round-section Revolution spokes this wheelset will tick all the boxes.

I fitted an Ultegra 12/25 10 speed cassette before boxing and shipping.  All wheels include rim tape and quick release levers.

Ben sent this used pair of DT Swiss 240s hubs, branded as Reynolds, up from Christchurch to be re-used. The nice thing about quality hubs is that they last a long time and can often be re-laced onto new rims.

To meet Ben’s goal of a stiff, light wheelset I used XR-270 rims and Aerolite spokes. Red aluminium nipples and white decals add a touch of flair.

They’re finished, boxed, and on their way back to CHCH for many more potholed kms.

From the way-back machine is this tutorial to replace the ratchet ring in Tune hubs.  There was a batch of hubs in 2008 / 2009 which creaked – this tutorial should help.

This tutorial got lost after some behind-the-scenes website changes.  Thanks to John for prompting me to upload this again.

NZ MTBR Issue 49 arrived in the mailbox this week and I’ve had a chance to flick through.  Great to see a reply to our Workshop section on removing stuck cleat bolts make Letter of the Month.  Hopefully my tips and tricks save more people needing to use an angle grinder!

This months Workshop section is about diagnosing worn bearings.  New Zealand winters are hard on bikes – the combination of lots of rain and the pumice-mud which most of the country has make for a fantastic grinding paste  – so this issue we’ll look for damage.  As always a big thanks to Kah for the photography and post-production.

And buried near the back of the mag is this photo of seven time National Champ Stu Houltham before he turned roadie.  Now riding on the road for the Wheelworks Racing Team there should be no surprises he went to the dark side: tall socks, skinny shaved legs, lycra shorts, and a helmet without a peak.  Plus is that a pie-plate on his rear wheel?  What a punter :-)

These 45mm deep Enve rims are, in my opinion, the best carbon clincher rim available. They’re American made, extremely high quality, and build up weighing 160 grams less than Zipp’s 404 Firecrest while being stiffer.

Each rim is around 455 grams – approximately the same weight as many shallow aluminium rims but with much better stiffness allowing a lower spoke count to be used.  Enve spoke holes are moulded into the rim rather than drilled which increases durability at the most critical point of a carbon rim.  The smooth internal surface also makes the wheels easier to build than, say, Zipp where you fight against the plastic bag leftover from moulding and a very high friction rim bed – although this is my problem not yours :-)

For Stuart’s wheels I selected an Alchemy ELF front hub and a DT Swiss 240s rear. The 66 grams ELF is also American made, very light, and the wide flange spacing builds into stiff wheels.  Regular readers will know I’m a huge fan of the DT 240 as it’s the lightest (222g) hub which just plain works, isn’t fragile, doesn’t go out of adjustment, runs on large bearings, and has a super durable, zero-maintenance freehub body system.

Spokes are bladed DT Swiss Aerolites with a combination of counter-bored nylock and non-nylock nipples.

These wheels are not cheap but they do represent the best is carbon clincher technology and performance.